Barnes & Noble is Back
Hello from a loyal fan of Barnes & Noble, a place that occupies the sweet spot between superstore-of-abundant-choice and “third place” congregating spot. There’s an ever-building protest against Amazon, but who’s protesting good ol’ B&N? I’m guessing no one, unless you’re reenacting You’ve Got Mail…or you are Peter Sagal from Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me.
I just got back from my hometown and was surprised to see that the bowling-alley-turned-B&N is now a Halloween Spirit pop-up store. (Boo.) So I did a quick search and learned that this store is actually just relocating to a shopping center a few miles away. Then I remembered that the B&N closest to where we just moved from was doing the same thing. (Viva B&N!) At the same time, the NYT published this piece that provides an overview of what James Daunt, chief executive of B&N, is spearheading at our beloved forest-green-and-wood bookseller.
Here, I’ll let Wait, Wait’s Sagal snarkily explain it to you:
“Barnes & Noble is back. Just like Frasier is being brought into the modern world, so is something else pretentious and doomed — bookstores… Once at death's door, Barnes & Noble has opened 20 new stores this year around the country, with more to come. Take that, Amazon… Also, take that small, beloved independent bookstore. Sorry. When's the last time you guys were at a Barnes and Noble? [Peter, stop. We know you don’t buy books via Amazon bc your audience would throw a fit.] One of the big changes is they're letting stores design their own spaces and create hyperspecific sections as they want to, like Canadian mysteries, romance-but-weird...Books to pile up on your nightstand and never read...”
He continues: “That said, the most popular section at Barnes and Noble continues to be ‘restroom.’”
Speaking as someone who lived in NYC with young children: Fair point. This is also what Starbucks was for. And while I usually said no to a purchase in the latter, the former almost always became a two-fer stop. A Berenstain Bears book costs about the same as a cookie and 2 Horizon chocolate milks, yes? Therefore, restroom strategy = winning.
(Below is my fave WWDTM fan when we saw a live show in Chicago last year.)
originally published on instagram